


Heart

by Yamx



Series: Those We Love the Best [12]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Multi, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-15
Updated: 2009-09-15
Packaged: 2017-10-21 13:46:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yamx/pseuds/Yamx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose feels uncertain about her place in the triad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wendymr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendymr/gifts).



> This ficlet was written for the _Shadow Proclamation_ for getting one of my threads over a milestone in the _Support Stacie Auction_. It is 500 words long. It may look suspiciously as if it were 750 words long, but it’s not. It’s 500 words. Honest.
> 
> Prompt revealed at the end.

Rose is sitting in the garden room, staring off to the incredibly realistic horizon.

Today was a disaster. Well, not really – they did defeat the despot and helped the people to gain their freedom. She supposes she should feel happy about that. But in truth, she’s too upset by her own failure to revel in the overall success.

They were in the control room on the top floor of the palace; the Doctor was working on disabling the computer system that forced the peasants to do the bidding of their “Lord” by controlling the planet’s energy and water resources. Jack was holding off the guards. All she had to do was keep an eye on the windows. And she blew it.

The soldiers abseiled from the roof, swung through the glass, and were in the room with a knife at her throat before she could even shout a warning. It was only due to the Doctor’s fast talking and Jack’s even faster right hook that they didn’t lose their lives and the war at that point. She sighs as she hears footsteps approaching.

The Doctor sits down to her left, Jack on her right. They try to slip their arms around her, but she shrugs them off. She can feel them exchange a glance over her head.

The Doctor speaks up first. “I’m sorry, Rose.”

“Sorry?” Rose finally looks at him. “What for?”

“Letting those brutes get their paws on you. Not protecting you better.” He puts a hand on her knee. “’Course you’re shaken up now. ‘Course you’re angry.”

She pushes his hand away, ignoring his hurt look. “That’s not it.”

“Then why-”

“Why am I even here?” Rose suddenly bursts out. She feels Jack stiffen at her back, and the Doctor looks like she’s slapped him.

“Don’t you wanna be?” the Time Lord asks softly.

“Not the point! Why do _you_ want me here?”

“What?” The Doctor’s face is a picture of confusion. His glances over her shoulder, looking at Jack for help. She stares at her knees again.

“Rose,” Jack says softly, putting a hand on her shoulder – which she brushes off – “why would you think we don’t want you here all of a sudden?”

She laughs, bitter. “What do you need me for? I can’t work with computers, I know nothing 'bout timelines, I’m useless in a fight, I just stand around and need to be rescued!” She snorts self-deprecatingly, making a vague and helpless gesture with her hands. “Except for my c-” she stops herself and blushes. “-bits, what do I contribute?”

And suddenly, Jack is laughing behind her. Laughing! Before she can even think about it, she whirls around and slaps him in the face. Not hard, but with feeling. She hears the Doctor’s sharp intake of breath behind her before she fully realizes what she’s done. Shocked, she looks at her hand, looks back at Jack, and – he’s grinning.

“Yep, that’s it right there,” he chuckles, and there’s such warmth in his eyes that she can’t even get out an apology.

“Wh- what?”

“This.” He takes her hand and kisses the palm. “That fire. The passion.” He grins. “Rose, I’d be lying to say we don’t care about your – bits, but we have plenty of those ourselves. Not the same ones, granted, but more than enough to be getting on with. But-” he places Rose’s hand, clasped securely in his, over her heart. “We don’t have this. Not anymore. Not like you do.”

She can feel tears welling up in her eyes. “Jack-”

“The Doctor and I, we’re two old soldiers. Him more so than me.” A cheeky grin over her shoulder, and an amused snort from behind her. “Trained, sure. Experienced, yes. And therefore, sometimes too cynical, too jaded.” His eyes are completely serious now. “Brains and brawns are all good and well, Rose, but they’re useless without a heart.”

The Doctor’s arms hug her from behind, and she’s tugged securely against the Time Lord’s chest, his chin resting on her head. “Heart’s what keeps people alive, Rose. Arms an’ brains wither an’ die without a heart. Within minutes, for most sentient organisms.”

Rose smiles. Typical that he’d feel more comfortable with a biology lecture than “domestics.” But she hears the message.

Jack leans close, and the Doctor widens the circle off his arms to include him. Rose is nestled between them, warm and safe and in the middle. As a heart ought to be.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> OT3; established relationship; Jack and the Doctor need to convince Rose that they really love/want her and she's not just a casual shag. (Bit of a twist on the usual trope!)


End file.
